2The attack was immanent. The Lunarians were holding nothing back. To obtain power over Earth once again, they were prepared to destroy all human life that still existed upon it. The residual governments of the weak countries of the Earth had no choice. On the day that Lunarians expected their surrender, they took the weapons of the olden days and shot them towards the Moon.
The explosion turned night to day as a new burning star ignited momentarily in the sky. Pieces rained down upon the land, spreading fire over entire continents. Smoke filled the sky and soon day was night. Plants wilted, animals starved and the human race was wiped from existence.
Groggily, Edward Fletcher opened his eyes and stared into a face he had never seen the like of before. It was his own, but mirrored upon a bone structure completely inhuman. He wanted to be disturbed but he merely felt strangely distant. Though he was vaguely aware of being tied down, he felt no need to move. He looked into his own eyes and saw within them knowledge beyond his understanding. Yet within it there was something tangible that he knew was important to him. He grasped for it.
He blinked. He was in the conference room of the military base. Had he dozed off? He tried to remember what he had been dreaming, but it faded quickly from his mind as his thoughts returned to the conversation at hand.
"So it is decided. We'll uncover the nuclear weapons from storage"
"To think we'd need to use them after all this time"
"Least we're not pointing them at each other," one man joked, but it did not go down well with the multinational audience.
"We don't need to use our entire fire power. Our country's weapons will be sufficient"
"Oh, so you want the glory of this war"
"Glory? Let them destroy the Lunarians. I would personally prefer to have nothing to do with this. This decision is not something to be proud of"
"We need to fire more than just from one country." Fletcher started, surprised by his own voice.
"Don't be ridiculous, man. What need is there? As long as the Lunarian colonies are destroyed, there is no need to go overboard. Don't tell me it won't be enough for that"
"True, but..." He was ignored. The others were already filing out of the room, the decision made. Clenching fists, he followed. He didn't know why, but in his mind he knew there was the need to fire more weapons at the Moon than just to destroy the colonies. However he couldn't even explain the idea to himself. Looking at the backs of the heads of the politicians and military commanders from all over the world, he could tell these were not the sorts of people to believe in feelings or hunches that had no bearing on fact.
In his mind, he was already deciding what he needed to do. There needed to be more fire power. The weapons would be fired as soon as the military commander of that country returned to his base. Fletcher had just a matter of hours. He needed to somehow access to his own countries weapons and fire them.
There was no time to waste.
Being a member of the government had its benefits. The income to buy a fast car was one of them. The ability to state to all police officers that stopped him that his speeding was the result of national emergency was another. He sped down highways, heading to the desert he knew the weapons were kept. Though the distance was long, and the speeds he drove at were reckless, he felt himself drifting off, as if sleep was waiting for him.
Before he was even aware how far he had travelled, he found himself pulling up outside the ancient base. The building was crumbling, yet it was still used, more to keep what was contained within safe than for actual strategic value. He ran, his identity card sufficient to open the door for him. He knew the long drive had left him with very little time, possibly a matter of minutes. Yet still he did not know where this urgency came from.
Down dusty corridors he ran, down worn steps he stumbled, and through many doors he fell, until he came face to face with those that protected the base. Guns were raised, but Fletcher paid no heed to them. Warning shots were even fired, but it wasn't until he was grabbed and physically restrained that he was brought to a halt.
"Sir! What is the matter with you? Have you lost your mind"
The question brought Fletcher to a halt. Have I, he asked himself. "Perhaps," he muttered.
In confusion, the grip was released slightly, enough for Fletcher to reach forward, enough for him to hit the buttons on the control panel.
Though Fletcher had fired off the weapons after the other country's military commander, the difference in distance to the Moon was sufficient that it did not matter. The bombs crashed into the moon, the first volley creating a bigger explosion than anyone on Earth could have ever predicted, breaking the Moon in to pieces. Yet the bombs Fletcher fired, crashed into those pieces, cutting them down further. Though they rained down upon Earth and great areas of land were burned and all life wiped out, there were areas left untouched. Those people left alive, looked at the destruction and wept.
One mirror-faced creature looked to another and asked, "Tell me, why did we not take a Lunarian and try to change the fate of the war rather than simply change the final outcome"
The second creature sighed. "We are teachers. We pick up the pieces that the children leave behind, and we put them back together. But we can only protect them so much. We must teach them that things break, and they must learn how to stop it from happening. And we will continue to do so, despite how many times we've done it before, and how many times we have to do it in the future."
Author's comments: I know it's very short. Let me if things aren't clear. I feel like I've gone back to basics with learning to write again as it's been so long since I did anything of note. I do feel like I should be explaining bits of it, which probably isn't a good sign. Please review and let me know what you thought. Criticism is more than welcome!